Coin lock



Sept. 21, 1943. w. a. HASKINS ETAL COIN LOCK O a. D d 6 l 1 F Patented Sept. 21, 1943 2,329,988 com 1100K j William B Haskins and H man schlosberg,

' I j 'Los Angeles, Calif.

This invention relates to coin-controlledlocks.

The invention is applicable .to various key operable closuresbut is more particularly intended for use in connection with pay toilets, in which vides is particularly-valuable. i 1

Among theobjects ofjthe invention are; to provideimproved means. for preventing the inserted coin from entering the receiving compartsituation the improved construction which it -pro-.

ment provided therefor 'until it has fully per-; formed its lock-controlling function; 'to provideimproved means to indicate whether or. not the.

toilet is in'use; to assemble the coin-controlled locking elements in' a more compact manner, and to reduce the number of operating parts required to perform" thev various-required functions.

More specific f objects are to v provide anactuat ing: mechanism for the lockingbolt which'willi always be in an operative condition, both "from outside and inside the toilet, fromthe timethe Fig. 6' isa perspective view of the locking bolt looking upwardly thereat: 3

Fig. 7 isa section'taken-on line1j:'l of Fig. 6;

Referring'in detail to the drawing, thecombination lock and coin casing-l I] is of an elongated rectangular character andis, shown attached to. theouterside of a swingabledoor H of a toilet with its ilongest dimension? extending vertically.

The casinggmounting means shown includesa back'plate l2 overlying .thecfront faceofsaid doorand: attached theretoiby-scr'ews 13. ,Saidl plate I2 is furnished withinternal ribs I4 which abut internally again'stthe side and top walls of: the casing to safeguardxxagainst unauthorized persons inserting autool under, the edges of, said walls to pry thebodylyportion; of' the casing away: from itsfback wall 12 and thereby "extract coins v collected insaidcasin'g:

coin. has been inserted until the person entering the toilet has fully closed the door {to provide an in and out indicator which can be moved to the out position only by 'the operation ofthe" inner knob to cpenthec door, and-to" mountf'the operating partsupon thelocking bolt thereby enlarging its functional capacities 'arid'at the same time carryingintdefiect the space-econo mizing and simplifying features' al-ready mentioned.

This invention relatesv to an improvement upon applicants. co-pending application Serial No,

423;'Z78; filed D'ecember" 20, 194'1, which has" rna tured into Patent No. 2,311,659; issued February Other objects, advantages and features of invention will-hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying'drav'iing,which illustrates what is at present deemed to be apreferr'ed embodiment of the invention,

Fig. I is a front elevation of the device showing the same applied to a toilet, showing a fragment of a .swingable toilet door and of that part of the casing with which the free edge' of said door cooperates. v T q 1 J i r Fig.2 is a vertical section on-li-ne- 2.-2 of Fig. '1'. Fig-3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2

the scale being larger thar'rthat-"of the-latter'view of 'the lock casing being and the'lower portion: I broken away to contract the viewif 7 V Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on line 4 the latter view being broken away. i

Fig; '5' is a reproduction'o'f Fig. '4 except that:

certain parts are shown in a different operative position.

4 of' Fig. 3, parts shown in the right hand-portion of 35 V jecting'pirrist "which thepaforesaid radial arm 25 The front Wall 20 of. the casingfpreferably madeiintegraljwith it's top and side walls; is pro-,

vided with an inwardly directedbearing;extension 2l",into. which screws, in a turnable manner, the threaded. portion2'2 of the shaft 23 of'the inner: knob:24',' s'aidknob and: shaft beingwmounted in a conventional, manner upon the door H. "Radie allyifrom said shaft extends: a l'ockin'g' bolt retractingarmlli. which is fixed to the inner part; of? said threaded portion 22 of said shaft, and

which acts .upon'the' locking. bo1t.l' The locking bolt 26nslidably fits-within suitable;

apertures provided foritinthe oppositeEside' Walls'xof the lock casing, saidbolthaving a bevel eled striking 'portion zlwhichdcooperates with. the catchpiateit mounted upon the door casing or ja'mb- 29. Said bolt carries a backwardly proengag'eszto-retract the bolt against the-opposition of a compressionspring 3|"which acts between.

the casing walln'and a shoulder 32;.(see Fig.3) with which the boltis' provided. The locking bolt carries a. stop stud 260 which cooperateswith the bearing portion 26b at that-sideofthe casing fronrwhich'the'locking bolt is extensibler- Describing .now they coin-controlled means whereby'the' door may be opened 'fromthe out-' side by meansof the outerknob 35',"this knob'has. a short shaft 36 which extends turnably through the front casing wall :Zltand: has fixed to it in-' ternally'xof .theicasing az swingable cross-head 31 I which always extends in a generally vertical di-u recti'on..- :Abovethe shaft 36"this -,cross-head at a times engages a'stop '38= which limits the swing thereoiat'oward that side" of the lockgcasin'g' from: whichthe strik'irig part of the lock b'olt" projects, 1 (hereinaitterltermed a rig'ht hand swing) and 9 below the -shaf't 36'said cross-head has'connected upper portion of the casing said coin will function as an abutment member between said crosshead and locking bolt to cause the operation of the exterior knob 35 to retract said bolt. For

this purpose said bolt has a vertical coin-slot 43 cut into it from its front side across the greater portion of its width and, to add width to this slot, an interiorly grooved or slotted extension 44 is welded or otherwise secured to the bolt at this point, the slot 45 of which alines with and extends the width of the locking bolt slot 43. The widened slot thus provided allows the coin to pass downwardly through the bolt except when the downward movement of the coin is obstructed from below by means of a coin arresting lip 46 carried by the" aforesaid cross-head 31, which lip is positioned to support the coin with a portion of its lower part projecting below the locking bolt, an inserted coin always being thus supported until the locking bolt is retracted by the operation of the inner knob 24, or else by reason of engaging the catch plate 28 when the door is completely closed. I

The cross-head 31 is provided behind and be-, yond its lip 46 with'a narrowed coin-engaging extension 41 whereby the coin 50 is utilized as an abutment against which'said extension acts to retract the locking bolt. An arcuate recess 53 is cut' into a corner portion of the lower side of the locking bolt thereby providing, behind the attached extension, a clearance through which the swingable coin-engaging extension 41 may idly move when no coin is present to serve as an abutment to cause retraction of the looking bolt. By the construction "which has just been descsribed, not only the part of an inserted coin which projects below the body portion of the locking bolt is positioned 'to be acted upon by the member 41 to retract the locking bolt, but also aconsiderable part of the coin above its said projecting portion is maintained in the path of thebolt retracting member 41.

In the upper portion of the front Wall '20 of the casing there is provided a sight opening 60- through which at alltimes may be seen the word In or else the word Out, theselwords being inscribed upon an indicator plate 61 slidably underlying saidv wall. This indicator plate is mounted upon a U-shaped carriage '62 which slidably embraces'the locking bolt with its limbs directed forwardly and its backpart slotted at 63 to provide a clearance for the locking bolt stud 30, said back partalso carrying a stop 64 which limits the swing of the lock bolt operating arm 25 when said arm returns from its bolt-retracting movement. t

Said carriage 62=Ialso carries an upwardly di-' rected pin 65 which'extends loosely through the mid-length portion of an angular dog 66 the nose of which at'times engages'a casing stud 51 to maintain the aforesaidindi'cator plate 6| in the in position, said dog being at times urged to this positionby the action'of a tensionspring:

68 one end of which is; attached to the back-,- wardly directed operating limb 69 of said dog member 41 which is operated by the outer knob 35, hence when a coin has been inserted and this knob is given a complete door-operating (right hand) turn the carriage 62 is moved by the action of the coin thereon against the opposition of its spring 68 to a position wherein the dog 65 passes" over the stud 61 and then engages said stud to holdthe carriage against return movement and in a position wherein the plate 6| displays the word In at the sight opening 60. A stop 31s is provided for the cross-head 31 to stop said head before it moves said carriage quite far enough to release the dog 66 unless its action on the carriage is augmented by the thickness of an inserted coin.

In order to provide for releasing the carriage from its retracted position the aforesaid backwardly directed limb 69 of the dog is extended back far enough to be engaged by the lock bolt operating arm 25 during the final part of its swing when the inner knob 24 is turned sulficientlywto release the locking bolt. A desirable way to extend said dog limb 69 is to provide in it a screwthreaded socket to receive a screw pin 10' which serves the purpose of attaching the spring 68 to the dog as well as to extend said dog limb into the path 'of'said arm 25. Said dog is pivoted to swing about a. center spaced considerably back of the top of the stud 61, therefore when the dog is released its nose snapsback to a position wherein it overlies the top of said stud so that the dog will continue released as the free end portion of the lock bolt operating arm moves toward the free edge of theftoilet door.

A key operable means is provided to enable authorized persons to open the toilet door withoutusing a coin. For this purpose there is provided-a conventional tubular lock structure 16 having an exterior key hole H at its front end and at its opposite end carrying a radially extending key operable arm 18 furnished with a pin 19 to engage, an upstanding arm 80 carried by the looking bolt near its beveled end;

The back plate l2 of the casing has an internally projecting boss 85 located at the mid-width and somewhat below the mid-height thereof and a key-controlled screw, bolt 86 screws into this boss to aid in holding in place all parts of the a casing except its back wall. This part of the in order to avoid'spilling the coins collected, the 1 top portion of the detached part of the casing 1 should be swung outwardly and downwardly before the lower portions of the casing are withdrawn from each other. 4 i

A brief recapitulation of the operation is as" follows: Assuming the toilet door H to be in the :closed, locked condition, the parts will at such time be in the positions shown in Figs. 1,3 and the fin dgfat 'whioh tiniethe locking bolt is extended. Also the carriage '62 is its 'righthand (Fig-Q 3) position; -and; consequently the indicator plate lilfirnountedon said carriage is positionedto-diS-- pfy'the word Outthrough the sight opening 69 At such-timeand"previous to the insertion coin; turning or the out'e'r knob-35 together its shaft 36- will cause the-upper portion off oss-h'ead 3? to rrfoveidly bacK-and-forth through gem passage .ofthe locking bolt without operating said bolt-' -and althoug-h the carriage- B2" wi ll' be partially retracted by this movement of the cross-headthe stop-3T3 willfarre's't the latterbefore it"rncwesthe carriage far enough to move the dog 'fid carriedf therebyfullyto its stopen g'a-gih position, hence underthese circumstances the carriage will be returned by spring 6-2-50 to-theout indicating position asfsoon as the person attempting to enterwithout inserting a coin releases-hisfhold upon the outer' knob 35." This thecasefbecause a com nts present in the coin passageof the locking ,bolt-before-the operation of. the outer" knob will either retract said bolt or 'rnove said carriage; far enough to cause Whe'nL however, the person desiring to enter inserts the proper coin into the coin chute A! such coin will drop down into the coin passage 43 of the locking bolt in which position it will temporarily be supported by the coin-arresting negro of'the cross-head 31. With the coin present'operating the knob 35- and thereby swinging of said cross-head leftwardfrom the position shownin Fig; 3 will utilize the coin as'an' abutment whereby thejlocking bolt will be retracted an'dflnot'later thanfthe instant said 'bolt is untsetse will retract the carriage 62 -"far enough both to display the word "Inffthrough the sight opening 60 and to cause the dog 66 tofengage its stop; andhold the carriage against retraction with signal in place soilong as the toilet is up e I- loweverQas soon as the; outer knob 35 is released the cross head 31 willbe swung back to its original position by the sprlng- 3 9' andthe lo-ekingl'aolt will automaticallyrnove tothe locked position so that its outer endwi-ll project from the-casing H3, then, when the beveled surface 21 strikes against 1 the striker; plate on the doorca-s:

ingf after the personhasentered the toilet thebolt will be camrned back by such action releasing the-coin from thefslot 43 and permitting it tO-d'ropinto the bottom 'oi the casing.

' When the occupant of the toilet leaves he will turn the inner knob 2 thereby swinging the arm 2T5fagaihstthe locking-bolt stud 30, said arm '25; striking the pin Ill of the dog 'fifi'and releasing the latter by the time the locking bolt has been withdrawn suiiie iently to permit the door to be opened;- Upon the removal of the operators hand from the inner knob 24 the springs will operate to reset all parts to the original or normal position which includes moving the carriage and its indicating plate 61 to the out position. Even if the door should not be completely closed by a person while using the toilet, it is to be understood that the door closing springwith which the toilet door is provided will completely ing bolt and unseat the coin independent of the operation of any other mechanism.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and the horizontally swin gab le dog ;65 toengage its subject niatter claimedJ What'is claimed is:-

' 1-.- In a coin c trolled devicefor-locking and unlocking toilet doors, a*casing, means whereby said casing is supported upon the toilet door, "a{

nenz ntauy "extending 'locki'n-g bolt mounted in said casing and having a locking end portion extensible therefrom- ,"coin controlled means opf erable from the outer side of thetoilet door to retract said locking-bolt, a carriage within said casing*slidablymounted upon said locking bolt,

anindicator mounted upon said carriage; said indicator be'ing'observable from the exterior ofsaid casing and in one posit-ionof said carriage indicating that the toilet is occupied and infanother position thereof that the toilet'is unoccupied, adogfsu'pported on apivotwhich" is a fpart; of said carriage, ajstopon said casing engageable by said dogfthe aforesaid'retraction of the locking bolt afterthe insertion of, acoin also moving said carriage and dog-to aposition wherein the latter engagessaid stopto hold said carriage against a return movement, said dog consisting of two arms angularly" related toea'ch other, one of said arms functioning as a pawl and theother as an arm for? operating the pawl portion of the dog',;saiddog-having alimited swinging movement; during; which its" said operating arm at all times extends in a generally transverse direction in" regard to the length of the locking bolt, a

taneously engage the operating arm ofsaid' dog thus to retract saidlocking bolt and release said dog; and spring meanswhich opposes the action of said radial arm upon said locking boltand dog and which upon thejr'elease of thelatter restores said carriage-indicator carried therebyand locking bolt to their original; positions when the operator removes tortional force'frorngthev knob whereloythe aforesaid shaftis operated.

'2'.'-'I *ne subject matter of; claim 1 and, there beingasingle-springacting; between said dog and.

the casing whereby said carriage is retractedand] Saidis owi 'diits stop-engaging posie tiOn. v: i j H v 3. '-Thef'subject rna tter of claim 1* an'dfthere being a; single: tension spring whereby said carria-gefis retractedand, said dog isurged toward its st op-ensaging position; oneend or said spring:

being attached to the operating army of said dog and the other end of said spring being attached to theoasi'ng.

fl; In'a locking a toilet door; a locking loolt'mountedr in said cas ing toslide horizontally toand from the'locking' position, a carriage mounted upon said locking bolt and slidable longitudinally thereof, an indicator carried by said carriage to indicate whether or not the toilet is occupied, a spring within said casing tending to move said carriage to one limit of its travel in which position said indicator indicates that the toilet is unoccupied, coin controlled means within the casing and manually operable from the exterior of the toilet simultaneously to retract said locking bolt and move said carriage against the opposition of said spring to a position wherein said indicator indicates an occupied toilet, a vertical pin fixed to said carriage, a dog swingably, mounted on said pin, a stop fixed to that this invention includesan modifications' -an d" equivalents -which iall within the scope of the evice, a casingmountable on the casing and engageable bythe portion of said dog at one side of said pin to releasably maintain said carriage in the latter position, at the opposite side of said pin said dog being connected to said-spring tobe therebyreleasably maintained in engagement with said stop when said carriage is movedas aforesaid to the position wherein an occupied toilet is indicated, and

means mounted upon said casing and manually operable from the; interior of the toilet to retract said locking bolt and release said dog.

, 5. The subject matter of claim 4 and, said dog having an operating arm which projectstoward the interior of the toilet, and means operable from the interior of the toilet including a part engageable with said operating arm of the dog to release the latter.

6. In a locking device, a casing mountable on a toilet door, a locking bolt mounted in said casing to slide horizontally to and from the locking position, a carriage mounted upon said locking bolt and slidable longitudinally thereof, an indicator carried by said carriage to indicate whether or not the toilet is occupied, a spring within said casing tending to move said carriage to one limit of its travel in which position said indicator indicates that the toilet is unoccupied, coin controlled means within the casing and manually operable from the exterior of the toilet simultaneously to retract said locking bolt and move said carriage against the opposition of said spring to a position wherein said indicator indicates an occupied toilet, a stop carried by the casing, a dog mounted upon said carriage and engageable with said stop to releasably maintain said carriage and indicator inithe position wherein an occupied toilet is indicated, there also being a stop carried by the casing which arrests the movement of the aforesaid carriage moving means slightly before said dog becomes engageable with said stop when the coin is absent, the coin when present occupying a position intermediate said carriage and the aforesaid means for moving it, thus augmenting the movement imparted to said carriage by the last recited means and causing said dog to engage the aforesaid stop therefor.

'7. The subject matter of claim 6 and, means mounted on said casing and manually operable from the interior of the toilet simultaneously to retract said locking bolt and release said dog from the aforesaid stop provided therefor.

8. In a locking device, a casing mountableon a toilet door, a locking bolt mounted in said casing to slide horizontally to and from the locking position, a carriage mounted upon said locking bolt and slidable longitudinally thereof, an indicator carried by said carriage to indicate whether or not the toilet is occupied, a spring within said casing tending to move said carriage to one limit of its travel inwhich position said indicator indicates that the toilet is unoccupied, coin controlled toretract said locking bolt and move said car-7 riage against the opposition of said spring to a position wherein said indicator indicates an occupied toilet, a dog mounted upon said carriage,

a stop on said casing and engageable by said dog releasably to maintain said carriage in the position' wherein the aforesaid indicator carried thereby indicates an occupied toilet, there being also a stop carried by the casing which arrests the movement of said carriage; moving means slightly before said dog becomes engageable with said stop when the-coin is absent, the coin when present being supported by the aforesaid carriage moving means in a position wherein it forms an abutment which augments the action of the latter upon said carriage and causes the latter to move far enough to bring its dog into engagement with the stop therefor, the inserted coin also forming an abutment whereon said carriage moving means acts to retract the locking bolt independently of said carriage when the latter is retained in the occupied indicating position, and means mounted upon the casing and manually operable from within the toilet simultaneously to retract the locking bolt, release said dog, and move an inserted coin away from its aforesaid support to permit it to gravitate to a lower position of the casing.

9. The subject matter of claim 8 and, the inserted coin, prior .to its aforesaid release, occupying a passage provided therefor in the locking bolt.

10. In a locking device, a casing mountable on a toilet door, a locking bolt mounted in said casing to slide horizontally to and from the locking position, a carriage mounted upon said locking bolt and slidable longitudinally thereof, an indicator carried by said carriage to indicate whether or not the toilet is occupied, a spring within said casing tending to move said carriage to one limit of its travel in which position said indicator indlcates that the toilet is unoccupied, coin controlled means Within the casing and manually operable from the exterior of the toilet simultaneously to retract said locking bolt and move saidcarriage against the opposition of said spring to a position wherein said indicator indicates an occupied toilet, a dog mounted within the casing to releasably maintain said carriage in the latter position, and means manually operable from the interior of the toilet to retract said bolt and release said dog, said dog being mounted upon said carriage and said spring being connected to said dog to move the latter toward its carriage retaining position whenever said carriage is moved to the limit of its movement against the opposition of said spring.

WILLIAM B. HASKINS. HYMAN SCHLOSBERG. 

